Valentine Rain
by Rend
Summary: [Oneshot, CloTi, Post AC and DoC] It's a Valentines day fic, Cloud plans a surprise for Tifa.


Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII any of it's characters and/or references.

Well here's a fic for Valentines day, I know I one day late, I'm sorry, but I hope you still enjoy

**  
Valentine Rain**

It was only midday when the streamlined, black-armored motorbike returned to Seventh Heaven. The vehicle hummed low as it came to it's halt, kicking forth the stand the occupant of the motor bike; a blond-haired boy in his early twenties with deep blue eyes and a solid build, removed himself from atop the seat and proceeded to walk towards the entrance of the bar. Climbing up onto the front porch, his fingers hesitated before reaching for the door knob. A sly smirk formed on the blond-haired boy's lips, slowly he reached for the door knob, and even more slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible turned it. Making a small creek small enough for his eye to peer through he briefly scanned the bar, being ever graceful he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

There were several patrons that filled various tables of the small bar, but the blond's eyes were searching for someone else. He was slightly troubled that he didn't see her, normally she was behind the bar counter, he stepped forward a bit making sure the sound of his boots landing against the floor was stealthily quite, and scanned the bar again until….

"Guess!" A playful female's voice asked from behind as two small hands found their way to cover his eyes.

The blond's expression was one of annoyed, and playful.

"Hmm, such small hands, is that you Marlene?" he asked with a hint of playfulness in his voice.

"Cloud my hands are not that small!!" The female withdrew her hands quickly and placed it on her hips.

Cloud couldn't help but smile at the sight, a female a year younger than him and extremely beautiful with long black hair reaching midway down her back combined a pair of beautiful crimson eyes and a slender form. Though she appeared somewhat annoyed, Cloud found it rather charming. However the annoyance in the female was short lived as she smiled at him.

"You're back early," she commented.

"Is that a bad thing?" Cloud asked seriously as if he was asking an important question, but Tifa knew it was just his playful side.

The couple was trying their best to keep their emotions contained to keep from blurting out in laughter. Cloud could see Tifa wanting to burst out laughing but trying her best to hide it. Moving ever closer to her he brought her into his embrace. She smiled into his shoulder and her body immediately relaxed against his warmth, completely forgetting about wanting to burst out laughing. She returned his embrace and wrapped her arms around him.

"I cancelled all the other deliveries, for the rest of the day and tomorrow also," Cloud told her.

"Tomorrow also?" Tifa questioned somewhat surprised. She was sure he had forgotten or would not have taken any heed of what day it was, but she dared to have hope, that he had taken it into consideration.

The two separated from the embrace but were still rather close to each other, "Tifa, how did you know I was here?" Cloud asked.

Tifa giggled a bit, "You can't sneak up on me Cloud, I always know if you're close," Tifa answered.

Cloud was left a little dumbstruck from her response, but didn't have time to dwell as within a matter of seconds a young figure using a remarkable burst of speed had darted between the two and out the front door, before the childish figure disappeared the words 'Hi Cloud, Bye Cloud were heard'. Tifa and Cloud were left at a slight loss for a brief moment but another child in hot pursuit made them realize what was going on.

"Tifaaaa," The young girl wined as she stopped in front the older woman.

Tifa bent her knees and knelt to the child's level, "What's wrong Marlene?" Tifa asked.

"It's Denzel," Marlene went on to explain, "He stole the valentine's day card I made for someone at school."

Tifa turned her eyes to Cloud who had been standing there listening to everything, he nodded at her and proceeded out the door in the direction the boy had taken off him as he stepped onto the porch and prepared to turn along the side of the building Tifa leant up against the side of the door, a smile plastered to her lips.

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I had been a long day for Cloud, finally he was alone in his room atop the bar, it was late evening and the bar was slow, Denzel and Marlene had made up, the blond-haired warrior sat on his bed, his weight making an imprint on his bed-sheet. He took out his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

There was a few rings before the person on the other side answered.

"Hello," The male said emotionlessly.

"Vincent its Cloud, I got a favor I gotta ask you, are you busy tomorrow?" Cloud asked.

"No, is something the matter?" Vincent tone changed slightly though most wouldn't notice it, Cloud recognized the hint of concern in it.

"Well not really," Cloud replied, "I need you to watch Marlene and Denzel for me."

Cloud knew why he was calling Vincent because Vincent was the only member available, Barret was off who knows where, Cid would be too busy Shera to look after the kids, Nanaki was too busy doing whatever he does as was Reeve and he dare not ask Yuffie.

"Why is this important?" Vincent asked.

"You could say…it's life changing," There was a brief pause as Cloud spoke quietly.

"Alright, any time I should pick them up?" Vincent asked.

"Anytime before noon," Cloud answered.

And with those final words they both hung up, neither waiting to hear if the other hung up first. As Cloud put his phone in his pocket he heard a soft knock on the door, he already knew who it was, they had done this before several times.

"Door's open Tifa," Cloud said not getting up only turning towards her.

Cloud lips curled a bit, but Tifa was fully smiling at him, "I'm just here to say I'm closing the bar early today," she explained.

"Alright, want some help?" He asked, not even bothering to ask the question why, his mind were on their things.

Tifa nodded, "Only if you want to help me make dinner?" she asked.

Cloud got up from his seat and approached her, "Sure, let's go." And they both turned to exit the room.

"Tifa, do you have any plans tomorrow?" the Chocobo-head asked.

Tifa swore her heart missed a beat, she was ahead of him so he couldn't see the expression of shock on her fic, but she had frozen in mid-step.

"Tifa?" Cloud called out to her, it helped break her out of her trance, she still didn't turn to face him, but tried to act as calm as possible.

"No, but I don't plan on opening the bar either," She explained, even if she wasn't going to have a romantic day with Cloud, she would at least have time to spend with the children, and besides Cloud said he was taking the day off, so maybe he would spend time with them also, but now that question also raised hope within her that something more would happen.

"Well Vincent said he'll be here tomorrow to take the kids…just don't make any plans okay," Cloud finished.

Tifa was frozen once again, thousands of thoughts floating though her mind, both Cloud and herself had become closer since the Geostigma incident, there were hugs, sometimes he would sleep in her bed to keep her company, other times their lips would lightly brush over each others, but neither of them spoke of the intimate moments they shared, it like an unwritten law, nevertheless Tifa's feelings towards the cerulean-eyed boy never wavered for a moment, but she was content with the little displays of affection, it wouldn't seem like much to most people but to Tifa it meant the world. Now however it seems that Cloud had something planned for her and him…she wanted to dwell on it, she wanted to know badly, it was like a splinter in her skin, it made an uncomfortable feeling, she had to know for sure if Cloud had something planned, but she dare not ask either.

"Hey Tifa are you okay?" Cloud asked.

When Tifa snapped out of her daydream, she realized Cloud was already at the base of the stairs, "Y-Yeah," she stammered for a bit, "I'm fine," and proceeded to meet with him at the bottom.

--------------

Vincent had arrived late morning to pick up the children but before noon, both didn't protest, especially since Tifa said if they behaved well, Vincent would give them lots of treats.

Cloud looked up at the sky when Vincent had arrived to pick up the children, it was overcast and he could feel the moisture in the air. The weather was going to change for the worse, he could feel the rain in the air already, but perhaps it could work to his benefit also.

Finally Cloud and Tifa wee alone in Seventh Heaven; both were dressed in their usual clothes. Tifa lay down on the living room sofa, trying her best not to think on what Cloud had planned but the toughs kept coming back to her it was like a boomerang; no matter how far she thre it, it would keep coming back. Everything recently sounded like he wanted to be alone with her, and this made her heart flutter with joy and excitement, even though she knew she shouldn't get her hopes up. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts she didn't notice when he entered the room, it was only when she felt his presence a few feet ahead of her and she looked up at him.

"Errr…here," Cloud said as he shyly handed her a rectangular red gift-wrapped box. He tried to hide his blush by looking away, Tifa however didn't notice, she hadn't expected this at all, quickly recovering from the blush, she took the box from him. It was then she noticed she hadn't gotten anything for him.

"Cloud!" Tifa exclaimed as she stood up quickly, "I'm so, so sorry but I didn't get you anything, I didn't think that…" She was cut off.

"Tifa…open it," Cloud said softly.

The crimson-eyed female became quiet, and took the box off the sofa, hiding her desire to tear apart the wrapping she took her time to remove it, apparently Cloud did an excellent job wrapping it. Then she opened it and took out the white sweater that was housed within it. Tifa fell speechless, she took the sweater up and passed it along the skin on her cheek, it was smooth. It was then she realized the sweater was hand-knit. Her eyes stared at Cloud in disbelief, which at the time was looking down at the floor below both of them.

"Cloud you knitted this?" Tifa asked softly.

"Zack thought me how to…" Cloud explained.

She could feel a warm, wet sensation on the corner of her eyes, "Oh Cloud," She whispered softly and somberly.

"Sorry but I went into your wardrobe to find the correct measurements, I'm sorry," He finally broke his gaze of the floor and like a child, slowly and innocently turned to face her.

Her smile was like the lights on a thousand Christmas trees; it filled him with absolute joy, and also forced his lips to curl also. Tifa was holding the sweater in front of her with both hands; she had it clutched to her chest, as if holding something precious.

"Thank you Cloud," she whispered to him, her tone affectionate yet somber. It was actually the first gift he had ever gotten for her, the first gift he had given her and it filled her with untold levels of joy, she didn't reject it or give him back out of awareness that she didn't have anything to give him, she was thankful for it, "Can I go change into it?"

Cloud was a bit taken back; she was asking him if she could wear it? But he had gotten it for her, "It'd yours Tifa, you can put it on if you want."

Tifa smiled at him as she left the room, Cloud watched as she left also, his lips also curled into a smile, as she exited the room. He walked towards the window, as he did the light patter of the drizzle had changed and became heavier, it wasn't a torrent yet but it was raining heavily, his hand reached forward and moved the curtain from in front the window touched the glass window. It stayed there for a few seconds before he removed it….he smirked, he continued to observe as the outlines of his fingers condensed on the window.

---------------

"Uncle Vincent where are we going?" a curious Marlene asked from between both Vincent and Denzel, Vincent was behind the wheel of his pickup truck with Denzel at the other window.

"We're going to the Chocobo farm, it looks like it's going to rain in Edge, and Cloud said you both wanted to see the Chocobos," The dark-haired man explained.

Denzel sprung to attention when he heard this, "Chocobos? Are there going to be different coloured Chocobo's?" he asked like a child at school.

Vincent nodded, Denzel's face beamed with childish joy, "You think they'll have a gold Chocobo there?" he asked more attentively.

Vincent couldn't help but smirk.

"Denzel, haven't you been paying attention in class, gold Chocobo's are rare, remember what the teacher told us, many people go their whole lives without seeing one, I doubt there's be any at the farm," Marlene lectured him.

Denzel lowered his head as if defeated, Marlene crossed her arms triumphantly.

"Actually," Vincent interjected "Choco and Choca are there, so you'll get to see two gold Chocobos," Vincent explained.

Both children looked at him curiously, "Choco and Choca?" Denzel asked.

"They're Crisis Avalanche's gold Chocobos, Cloud knew you wanted to see them so he arranged for Cid to bring them here for both of you too meet them," He paused and glanced at the two children they were still looking at him, both of them with expectant faces like how they would be on the night before Christmas, "They're both the only members of Crisis Avalanche you haven't meet yet."

The ride only took a few more minutes before Vincent brought the vehicle to a halt before the Chocobo farm, as the pickup stopped moving both children sprung forth immediately and started to run towards the pen where the Chocobos were, they didn't even notice that they passed Yuffie on their way there. Vincent turned off the truck and stepped out, he approached the young ninja, but his eyes were on the children as they climbed the pen, but they didn't jump over it, he watched as they tried to pet a baby Chocobo but instead they frightened it.

"Cid?" Vincent asked addressing Yuffie.

"He's out on a Chocobo," Yuffie explained, Vincent allowed his eyes to be taken off the children for a minute and gave Yuffie a questioning look, he knew there was no way on Gaia a pilot like Cid would ever ride the giant land bird.

"It's Shera," Yuffie answered the unasked question, and nothing else needed to be asked after that.

"Well I trust you can watch the children on your own?" She rhetorically asked him.

Vincent proceeded walked past her but stopped halfway, "Sorry for the trouble, you can be on your way now," and without acknowledging her again walked towards where the children were.

"Wow," Yuffie said a little surprised, "Seems you're becoming more and more human," she said to herself, and in a puff of white smoke she vanished.

---------------

Unlike at the Chocobo farm, which was still sunny, Edge was completely overcast, the menacing dark grey clouds blocking out the sun and the light drizzle had now turned into a torrent of rain. Inside Seventh Heaven, the sound of the rain was not as loud as outside but there was still a soft echo that could be heard. Tifa finally had made her way back to the living room, this time dressed in the sweater that Cloud had knitted for her; she also wore long blue jeans and brown sandals on her feet. She had let her hair down and had removed her earrings.

Her eyes went to shock once again, that reaction was quite frequent recently this time it was as she saw the living room, the lights were off, she had noticed that as she came back downstairs, it was considerably darker and non of the lights were on, but in the living room there were candles lit that illuminated various parts of the room, along with the cold atmosphere and rain pounding outside, it gave the room a rather welcoming cozy feel.

"Cloud?" Tifa called his name as she entered the room, although he would not be able to hear her as she was speaking in whispers. Her eyes landed on the coffee table at the center of the room, there was a small ice container at the center along with two candles, and within the ice container a bottle of wine. She walked over and picked up the bottle, removing it out of it's frozen embrace.

It was then Tifa noticed another presence in the room, she watched as he lighted the final candle and placed it down on the floor. As he turned around both their eyes met, he grinned somewhat awkwardly.

"You came down a bit early," He commented.

Tifa nodded, "Cloud…why?" he could hear the longing in her voice.

He stood up and walked over closer to her standing right in front of her with about a foot separating them, "I would say I don't know…but…well…" His words were broken.

"Cloud, all this, how come? Why now?" Though the female longed for his affection, she was still curious.

However Cloud had the perfect response, he exhaled a sigh before he spoke again, "you still don't know Tifa?" He asked her, "After everything, after all we've done, and everything we've been through together, do you still not know how I feel about you?"

The words stung at her heart, especially the last part, she knew, she had always known, both of them had always known about their feelings for each other, it was there, it was always there, just hidden beneath the surface. The first tears formed on the corner of her eyes, her hands became loose and dropped the bottle of wine onto the rug, as it hit the rug it immediately started to spill out, but neither of them acknowledged it, their eyes remained locked with one another, it was as if the bottle of wine spilling onto the rug hadn't occurred or there was no bottle of wine to begin with, even the echo of the outside rain seemed trivial.

Cloud stepped forward, their bodies were now touching lightly, Tifa looked up at him, and wordlessly his hand reached below her chin and tilted it slightly, then brushed some of her hair that was in her face away. It was then his lips descended onto hers, at that moment time stopped for both of them and removed them to their own world, it seemed as if there was no rain to being with, it was just the two of them., the kiss wasn't like when their lips brushed together in the past, it was different now, their was something behind the kiss, something they both added into it, it was filled with passion and love.

Fin.

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Well it's a oneshot, I hope you liked the way it ended, well I had a crappy Valentines day...seriously it was just horrible, so I decided to create this fic, I hoped you enjoyed it. If there's anything you wish to say please leave it as a review, feedback is always appreciated.  



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